POETRY OF FLOWERS. 151 
their cupid Manmadin, whom they picture pin¬ 
ioned with flowers, was first seen floating down 
the sacred Ganges. 
“ He little knew how well the boy 
Can float upon a river’s streams, 
Lighting them with his smile of joy, 
As bards have seen him in their dreams, 
Down the blue Ganges, laughing, glide 
Upon a rosy lotus wreath, 
Catching new lustre from the tide, 
That with his image shone beneath.” 
Moore. 
L. E. L. founded one of her passionate lyrics 
on this fable. She represented the youthful 
deity as 
“ Seated on a lotus flower 
Gathered in a summer hour; 
Grasping in his infant hand 
Arrows in their silken band, 
Each made of a signal flower, 
Emblem of its varied power.” 
Edgar Poe did not oinit to notice love’s floral 
cradle, and in his most musical, most melan¬ 
choly rhyme, sang of 
“The nelumbo-bud that floats for ever 
With Indian Cupid down the holy river.” 
